1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for producing a veneer and to a product produced in this way.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to restrain as far as possible the use of high-value timbers, it is nowadays usual to cover the surfaces of a wide variety of articles, e.g. of furniture, with wood veneer.
The object of the invention is to provide a veneer which makes operations easy and cost-effective, retains the aesthetic impression of the high-quality timber and can accept chemical and physical stresses.
The novel process for producing a veneer of this type comprises the steps of
a) applying to a veneer sheet a layer made from the group consisting of a polyolefin, a copolymeric polyolefin and a mixture of polyolefin and copolymeric polyolefin and
b) bonding to one another the veneer sheet and the material of the layer.
A veneer sheet is therefore to be understood here as a conventional veneer made from timber, e.g. from a high-value timber. The product produced according to the invention, i.e. the veneer in the sense of this application, is then the veneer sheet processed in the manner described above, i.e. a product in which the wood veneer sheet has been penetrated by the above-mentioned polyolefins or copolymeric polyolefins, etc.
This gives a veneer which has significantly better shapeability than conventional veneer sheets. This opens up a broad range of applications for veneers and also allows dramatic simplification of operations with veneers compared with the prior art.
Preference is given to application by pressure in step (b) at pressures of from 5 to 20 bar. Temperatures preferred for the application by pressure are in the range from 150 to 200xc2x0 C.
A particularly preferred embodiment of the invention provides that ESI is used as the layer which, with pressure and/or heat, penetrates the wood veneer sheet. ESI is an ethylene-styrene interpolymer supplied by Dow Chemical under this name. It is a copolymeric polyolefin. Its properties with respect to the present invention are in particular very good adhesive bonding performance (with pressure and temperature), good shapeability, good capability for decoration by the xe2x80x9creleasexe2x80x9d method and good coatability.
Further preferred embodiments of the invention are described in the dependent claims.
A particularly preferred embodiment of the invention provides that the layer to be applied by pressure to the wood veneer sheet has at least two sublayers with different proportions of ethylene and styrene, where the sublayer initially facing the wood comprises more ethylene than does the sublayer initially facing away from the wood.
A veneer produced according to the invention is preferably further processed by being clamped, in the final shape (structure) desired, into an injection moulding machine and being back-moulded with plastic in a manner known per se. This gives a stable high-quality product with a surface which is of high quality and which is in particular aesthetically attractive. The surface has good coatability and capability for decoration.